Former Mossad Director Meir Dagan Says an Israel Strike on Iran is "Stupidest Thing I Have Ever Heard"

Meir Dagan, the former chief of Israel’s highly secretive spy agency, Mossad, recently appeared on 60 Minutes to publicly state his disapproval for an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Dagan has been quoted as saying that a strike on Iran is, “the stupidest thing I have ever heard" and restated this sentiment in the interview with Leslie Stahl.

But his statement on whether or not a strike is prudent is old news compared to his other statements last night in which he said that the Iranian regime is “very rational.” Even more interesting is that Dagan believes that there is no imminent threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon, and that the time table is much longer than some think: three years longer in fact.

Dagan’s statements are prudent. No one is better situated or has a better idea of this issue than he does, which makes it ironic that so many in the U.S. and even Israel think that they know better than him. Given that Dagan was charged with making sure Iranians don’t get the bomb – and the evidence we have seen proves he was hard at work doing so – we should trust his assessment of the situation.

For someone who in his past ran PLO hit squads and was described by former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as being an expert in “separating an Arab from his head,” Dagan seems very even keeled and far more rational than some who call for acts of war as an easy way out.

Joseph graduated with a Master of Science in international relations from the University of Massachusetts Boston and was an intern at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC. He completed his BA at Arizona State University in political science as well as studied Arabic language, terrorism/counterterrorism, and religion. Joseph also lived in Egypt where he studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo in 2007.
Joseph was the Secretary of the Executive Committee for the University of Massachusetts Graduate Student Government, a teaching assistant in his department, and teaches a class on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. His main areas of interest are the Af/Pak region, Iran, Syria, and other current foreign policy issues.